A recording/playback apparatus is known which can record a data series including mixed data blocks with different compression encoding schemes integrally into a single recording medium, and is suitable for a multimedia system capable of decoding and playback (see Patent Document 1, for example).
According to the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, it adds identification data designating a compression encoding scheme to each data block of an input data series, carries out data compression by selecting and using a compression algorithm prepared in advance in accordance with the identification information, and records the compressed data on a recording medium together with the identification data. At the time of decoding, referring to the identification data, it switches the decoding algorithm, and carries out the data playback.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-102141/1996 (Paragraphs “0010”-“0015”, and FIG. 1 and FIG. 5).
To record multimedia compressed data such as audio and video on a recording medium such as a CD (Compact Disc), DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) and HD (Hard Disc), the system requests a user to set a filename. In this case, the system provides the extension of the file name automatically which corresponds to the encoding scheme of the compressed data.
For example, a file passing through the compression encoding based on MP3 (MPEG Audio Layer-3) is provided with “MP3”, and a file passing through the compression encoding based on WMA (Windows Media Audio) (Windows is a registered trademark) is provided with “WMA”.
To play back the compressed coded data, the playback apparatus, referring to a file system (file management region) recorded in the recording medium, selects the decoding scheme determined by the extension of the compressed coded data, and plays back by decoding. To be concrete, an MP3 audio medium passing through the compression encoding based on MP3 is decoded in accordance with the decoding scheme of the extension “MP3” to be played back. Likewise, a WMA audio medium passing through the compression encoding based on WMA is decoded in accordance with the decoding scheme of the extension “WMA” to be played back.
Accordingly, as for a file of an MP3 audio medium, which is provided with an extension “WMA”, or a file with a different extension, it cannot be played back because the decoding scheme used is different.
The present invention is implemented to solve the foregoing problem. Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide a compressed data playback apparatus and a decoding/playback method in the same apparatus enabling playback independently of the identification information such as an extension provided to a file.